THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   ILLINOIS  AT  CHICAGO 


3  8198  319  802  367 


ON    THE    TRAIL    OF    THE 

Juvenile-Adult  Offender 

An  Intensive  Study  of  100 
County  Jail  Cases 


By 

A.  P.  Drucker 


Juvenile  Protective  Association 
of  Chicago 


1912 


qpHE  JUVENILE  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 
-■-  is  greatly  indebted  to  the  following  individuals  and 
associations  who  have  aided  in  every  way  this  investiga- 
tion of  the  boys  in  the  County  Jail  and  who  by  their 
co-operation,  advice  and  assistance  have  made  possible 
this  study. 

Mr.  Michael    Zimmer,   Sheriff 

Mr,  William  Davies,  Jailer 

Mr.  John  L.  Whitman 

The  States  Attorney's  Office 

The  Police  Department 

The  Judges  of  the  Municipal,  Superior  and 

Circuit  Courts 
The  Juvenile  Court 
The  Municipal  Bureau  of  Statistics 
Bureau  of  Persona!  Service 


INTRODUCTION. 

A  young  boy  of  18  left  his  home  in  Nebraska  to  come 
to  Chicago,  feeling  that  he  could  secure  a  better  wage 
here. 

On  his  arrival  in  the  city,  with  his  grip  in  his  hand,  he 
walked  the  streets,  looking  for  what  he  considered  a 
cheap  and  at  the  same  time  respectable  boarding  house. 
As  he  was  standing  on  a  side  street  near  a  show  case  in 
front  of  a  store,  he  saw  two  boys  go  quickly  up  to  the 
case,  break  the  glass,  take  out  the  goods  and  run  away. 
The  noise  of  the  breaking  glass  attracted  a  policeman, 
who  promptly  arrested  the  Nebraska  boy,  who  was  sim- 
ply looking  on,  and  also  secured  the  arrest  of  the  two 
boys  who  had  broken  the  glass  and  stolen  the  goods. 
The  Nebraska  boy  was  brought  into  court  and  charged 
with  being  an  accessory  after  the  fact,  and  was  sent  to 
prison  for  six  months.  Undoubtedly,  he  should  have  at- 
tempted to  prevent  the  theft  by  calling  for  assistance, 
but  a  country  boy  does  not  always  know  what  to  expect 
in  a  city  and  so  does  not  always  act  quickly. 

It  was  cases  such  as  this  of  unjust  imprisonment  which 
called  the  attention  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associa- 
tion to  the  large  number  of  boys,  many  of  them  first  of- 
fenders just  over  the  Juvenile  Court  age,  who  are  con- 
fined every  year  in  the  County  Jail  of  Chicago.  Hoping 
to  be  of  some  assistance  to  these  boys  by  investigating 
the  causes  which  led  them  into  trouble,  and  by  putting 
the  extenuating  circumstances  connected  with  their  of- 
4 


fence  before  the  Court,  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associa- 
tion made  a  very  thorough  investigation  of  the  histories 
of  one  hundred  boys  held  in  the  County  Jail.  The  re- 
sults of  this  study  have  been  tabulated  in  the  following 
pages  by  Mr,  A.  P.  Drucker,  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
Juvenile  Protective  Association.  Mr.  Drucker  has  made 
a  study  of  this  question  of  first  offenders  and  has  inter- 
viewed a  large  number  of  probation  officers,  judges,  pe- 
nologists and  others  who  come  in  contact  with  juvenile- 
adult  offenders.  The  results  of  this  investigation  I  com- 
mend to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  first  offender, 
with  the  suggestion  that  since  we  have  a  public  prose- 
cutor to  see  that  criminals  are  punished  and  that  the 
rights  of  property  and  person  are  respected,  so  we  should 
have  as  well  a  public  defender  to  see  that  the  extenuat- 
ing circumstances  connected  with  a  boy's  first  offence 
are  brought  before  the  courts. 

Louise  de  Koven  Bowen. 


On  the  Trail  of  The  Juvenile-Adult 
Offender 

The  recently  initiated  movement  for  the  protection  of 
the  child  has  brought  about  many  improvements.   Among 
its  numerous  good  results  are  the  beneficent  child-labor 
laws  and  the  Juvenile  Court,  with  its  humane  treatment 
of  the  youthful  offender.     This  humane  legislation  of 
necessity,  however,  excludes  older  minors  from  its  bene- 
fits.    And  yet  the  boy  between  the  ages  of  17  and  21  is 
almost  as  badly  in  need  of  legal  protection  and  help  as  is 
his  younger  brother,  since  this  period,  the 
Juvenile-Adults     final   stage  of  adolescence,   is  a  critical 
Neglected   in        qj^^  [^  human  life.     It  is  at  this  age  that 
°*^^^  W^  ^^'       ^^^  youth's  judgment  of  right  and  wrong 
is  being  formed,  his  character  is  being 
definitely  developed  and  his  whole  atti- 
tude toward  life  is  becoming  shaped.     Yet  insofar  as  the 
lawmakers  and  the  workers   for  social  betterment  are 
concerned,  nothing  has  been  undertaken   either  to  im- 
prove conditions  of  life  for  him  or  to  keep  him  from  evil 
ways.    Entirely  neglected  when  questions  of  social  amel- 
ioration have  come  up,  nothing  has  been  planned  or  done 
to  aid  the  youth  when  he  has  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
arraigned  as  a  delinquent  and  brought  into  court.     It  is 
in  order  to  direct  attention  to  this  class  of  young  delin- 
quents that  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  has  un- 
6 


with  social  workers,  lawyers,  the  State's  Attorney,  and 
judges,  and  after  consulting  various  specialists  in  pen- 
ology, the  results  of  the  investigation  were  tabulated  and 
the  following  deductions  were  made : 

HOME  CONDITIONS— POVERTY. 
"The  Great  According   to   Thomas    Travis,    "The 

Cause  of  great   cause  of   juvenile   delinquency   is 

Juvenile  Delin-     °  •  r        .•        i     u  >. 

T    ^u         the     non-     or     semi-iunctional    home, 
quency  Is  the 

Semi-Func-  '^'"'^^   statement   is   strikingly  borne  out 

tional  Home."  by  the  data  gathered  in  the  course  of 
the  present  investigation.  Out  of  105 
offenses,  78  were  violations  of  property  rights ;  13  were 
sexual  crimes;  9  were  personal  injuries;  and  the  remain- 
der were  cases  of  disorderly  conduct.  Of  the  9  cases  of 
personal  injuries,  6  were  attempts  to  commit  robbery — 
hence  actually  crimes  against  property  rights.  The  re- 
markable predominance  of  this  last  class  of  offenses 
points  to  the  fact  that  poverty  is  the  prime  cause  of  much 
delinquency.  For  it  is  acknowledged  that  property  of- 
fenses are  mainly  induced  by  poverty.*    Indeed  the  more 

♦The  statistics  obtained  in  our  tables  are  corroborated  by  the 
statistics  of  other  agencies  interested  in  the  question  of  the 
contributing  causes  of  juvenile  crime.  All  agree  that  between 
80  and  90  per  cent  of  this  crime  relate  to  property  violation  and 
is  induced  by  poverty. 

The  statistics  accumulated  by  the  authorities  of  the  State 
Reformatory  at  Elmira,  New  York,  show  that  83  per  cent  of 
the  New  York  juvenile  court  children  never  had  a  childhood — 
in  the  sense  that  they  had  to  work  for  a  living  since  they  were 
10  years  old.  Only  7.6  per  cent  of  all  the  inmates  at  Elmira 
had  had  a  fairly  good  home. 

Only  13  per  cent  of  all  the  young  offenders  examined  by 
Raux,  of  Paris,  had  had  even  ordinary  supervision  by  their 
parents. 

9 


carefully  we  study  the  history  of  these  delinquent  lads 
the  more  we  are  convinced  that  it  was  poverty  first  and 
last  which  drove  them  to  crime ;  for  in  all  cases  the  boys 
had  to  go  out  to  work  for  a  living  before  they  were  pre- 
pared for  the  struggle  for  existence. 

TABLE  I 
Showing  the  Nature  of  Crimes  of  the  One  Hundred  Juvenile- 
Adult  Delinquents. 

Confidence  games 2 

Contributing   to    delinquency 1 

Joy-riding 3 

Assault  and  battery 3 

Burglary 27 

Arson 2 

Highway  robbery 25 

Petty  larceny 2 

Grand  larceny 8 

Disorderly  conduct 5 

Attempted  murder 1 

Murder 7 

Stealing 5 

Rape 10 

Bastardy 3 

Tampering  with  United  States  mail 1 


Delinquency  In  order  to  obtain  every  possible  light 

Due  to  Bad  q^^  j-j^g  delinquency  cases  in  hand,  the 

Homes,  Bad  ^^^^^   ^^^   investigated   was    asked   to 

Company,  .      ,  .         ,                     ,       .   .                  , 

j3j.jj^^  give  his  or  her  personal  opinion  as  to  the 

contributory  cause  in  each  case.     From 
the  officers'  answers  we  have  these  facts:     In  37  cases 


the  cause  was  ascribed  to  a  bad  home.  In  VJ  cases  the 
boys  were  misled  by  bad  company,  and  in  15  cases  they 
were  badly  intoxicated  when  they  committed  their  crime. 
The  rest  were  either  subnormals  or  perverts. 

TABLE  II 
Contributory  Causes. 


Bastardy 2 

Rape 2 

Highway  robbery 9 

Assault   and  battery 

Attempted  murder 

Murder 3 

Burglary 12 

Stealing 

Petty  larceny 2 

Grand  larceny 4 

Tampering  U.  S.  Mail..    .. 

Confidence  game 

Contrib.  to  delinquency.     1 

Disorderly  conduct 2 

Joy  riding 

Arson 


37 


^\lready  counted. 


05Q 
1 

3 
6 


Zl 


1  ll 

3 

1 
3 

5        10 

10 

18 

25 

2 

3 

1 

1 

5 

7 

26 

27 

5 

5 

2 

2 

8 

8 

1 

2 

1 

1 

4 

5 

2 

3 

2 

2 

*91       105 


A  Heavy  Price 
for  "Keeping 
the  Family 
Together  at 
All   Costs" 


More  light  is  thrown  upon  the  home 
environment  of  these  boys  by  a  study 
of  Table  3  (Family  Record).     Here  we 
see  that  42  boys  have  both  parents  liv- 
ing.    Out  of  this  number,    in    16    in- 
stances the  mother  goes  out  working;  6  have  insanity 
or  disease  in  the  family ;  12  families  were  deserted  by 
11 


the  father.  Furthermore,  28  have  no  father;  11  are 
motherless ;  and  6  have  neither  father  nor  mother  living. 
On  the  face  of  it,  these  last  statistics  are  rather  surpris- 
ing, as  one  vi^ould  expect  more  delinquents  in  the  cases 
v^here  the  boys  have  neither  parent  living,  or  among 
those  who  had  only  the  mother  living.  From  a  study  of 
the  records  of  orphan  homes,  however,  we  get  the  ex- 
planation of  this  apparent  anomaly.  In  the  orphanages 
the  greater  number  of  children  have  neither  father  nor 
mother.  Next  come  the  orphans  who  have  lost  their 
mothers;  while  lastly  come  those  who  have  lost  their 
fathers.  By  comparing  these  statistics  with  the  former 
ones,  we  shall  see  the  reason  for  the  greater  number  of 
delinquents  among  those  who  have  lost  their  fathers  and 
the  smaller  number  among  those  who  have  lost  both  pa- 
rents. In  the  last  case  the  children  are  placed  in  an  in- 
stitution, where  they  are  brought  up  under  good  super- 
vision. So,  too,  where  the  mother  dies,  the  surviving 
parent  more  often  shirks  his  duty  and  sends  his  children 
to  a  home.  Where  the  father  dies,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  case  is  different.  The  poor  mother  tries  hard  to 
keep  her  little  family  together.  As  she  must  go  out  to 
earn  a  living  for  them,  the  children  grow  up  v/ithout  any 
supervision,  and  these  are  the  children  who  later  are 
brought  into  the  court  and  sent  to  the  jails.  From  this 
it  will  appear  that  the  present  tendency  to  keep  the  family 
together  at  all  costs  has  its  dark  side;  in  fact  the  oppo- 
sition to  placing  children  in  an  institution  is  justified 
only  where  the  mother  is  provided  with  a  livelihood  by 
the  city  or  state,  so  that  she  need  not  go  to  work.  In  all 
other  cases  a  good  orphanage  is  far  better,  since  a  child 
without  good  supervision  is  almost  bound  to  turn  out 
badly. 

12 


TABLE  III 


Family  Record. 


Mixed   marriage 3 

Only    son 1 

Home  conditions  bad 8 

Home  conditions  good....  8 

Father    insane 2 

Mother  insane 2 

Disease  in  family 1 

Bad  blood  in  family 1 

Mother  working 16 


5^« 

3 

5 

11 

1 


o  £ 
1 
1 

6 


6 


3 


42      28      11 


'12     101 


♦Counted  before. 


Preventioa 
Must  Begin 
at  Home 


From  a  survey  of  the  tables  derived 
from  these  reports,  it  appears  that  the 
semi-functional  home  was  the  direct 
cause  of  48  delinquencies.  Fifteen  more 
cases  may  be  indirectly  ascribed  to  bad  homes — not  only 
because  the  young  boys  probably  followed  the  bad  ex- 
ample of  their  father  but,  in  many  instances,  it  was  the 
bad  home  conditions  which  drove  both  father  and  son 
to  the  saloon.  The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  has 
evidence  to  prove  that  much  drunkenness  was  caused 
by  bad  cooking,  general  shiftlessness  about  the  home, 
bad  economic  management  and  unattractiveness  and  un- 
pleasantness generally  in  the  house.  Even  the  37 
cases  of  bad  company  leading  to  delinquency  are  attrib- 
utable to  bad  homes.  If  then,  we  would  combat  de- 
linquency among  juvenile-adults,  we  must  first  of  all 
find  a  means  of  converting  bad  homes  into  good  ones. 
13 


SALOON  VS.  HOME. 

Saloon  an  "Many  children   are  also   found  who 

Old  Offender  have  been  decoyed  into  their  first  wrong- 
doing through  the  temptation  of  the 
saloon,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  one  of  the  earliest  regu- 
lations in  American  cities  for  the  protection  of  children 
was  the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  liquor  to  minors." — 
Miss  Jane  Addams,  in  A  Neiv  Conscience  and  an  An- 
cient Evil. 


One  Young  Of  the  9  offenders    who    had    good 

Highwayman        homes,  8  were  intoxicated    when    they 

^    f,     °TT  "         committed  the  crime.     This  is  an  elo- 
to  Keep  Up  i  ,  ,     • 

His  Courage"  quent  comment  on  the  saloon  regulation 
in  our  city,  for  all  these  offenders  were 
minors,  and  hence  each  case  was  an  instance  of  viola- 
tion of  the  law  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquor  to  minors. 
Not  only  did  these  lads  get  what  they  wanted,  but  in 
several  cases  it  was  discovered  later  that  the  saloon- 
keepers were  in  league  with  the  would-be  criminals. 
Thus  Case  23  had  been  urged  to  commit  robbery  by  his 
salboioikeeper  friend.  Case  31  "had  to  drink  to  keep  up 
his  courage."  The  Kauffman  murder  was  perpetrated 
by  youths  maddened  by  drink.  The  heavy  license  im- 
posed upon  saloonkeepers  and  the  graft  which  is  almost 
inseparable  from  this  business,  make  the  saloonkeepers 
nearly  desperate  in  their  anxiety  to  cover  their  consider- 
able expenses,  and,  as  they  put  it — they  are  forced  to 
break  the  laws  in  every  way  they  possibly  can  without 
being  caught. 

14 


Q  The  pity  of  it  is  that  at  present  the 

Poor-Man's  saloon  is  really  the  only  place  where  a 

Club  poor  youth  can  go  to  rest.     It  is  as  yet 

the  only  poor-man's  club.  Many  a 
young  man  goes  to  the  saloon  only  for  the  rest  and  the 
toilet  accommodations  he  can  get  in  no  other  public  place. 
Naturally,  the  saloonkeeper  does  not  provide  these  ac- 
commodations out  of  kindliness  toward  the  public,  but 
rather  because  he  thus  gains  many  customers,  since  it  is 
understood  that  every  one  who  comes  to  the  saloon  must 
buy  a  drink. 

Indeed,  in  this  respect  Chicago  is  worse  off  than  most 
of  the  Eastern  large  cities.  In  New  York,  in  the  busi- 
ness district,  lavatory  facilities  are  provided  in  various 
places  not  saloons,  and  the  same  is  true  of  several  other 
large  cities  that  have  learned  the  evil  influence  of  the 
saloon  as  a  poor  man's  club. 

TABLE  IV 

Neighborhood  Conditions. 

Chicago 

City  Slum 

Crimes  per  person 11  4 

One  saloon  to  every 212  127 

Illiterate 4.65%  25.37% 

Area   of    Chicago 194.45  sq.  mi. 

No.  of  officers  on  Police  Force 4,437 

Policemen  per  square  mile 20  (sub.  clerks,  etc.) 

NEIGHBORHOOD  CONDITIONS. 

Nearly  90  per  cent    of    our    County 
Small   Parks  t   -i   v,  x  .tu  ^  j   j- 

-_    ^  _       ,  ail  bovs  come  from  the  congested  dis- 

Must   Supplant      ■   .         -       ,         .  ,  ,  .  ,  , 

Saloon  and  tricts  of  the  city,   where  the  neighbor- 

Nickel  Show         hood   conditions   are  very  bad.     These 
boys  are  surrounded  on  every  side  by 
evil  influences  and  have  not  one  place  where  they  may 

15 


look  for  help  or  guidance.  The  home  is  bad,  the  neigh- 
borhood is  worse,  saloons  line  the  streets,  and  at  the 
back  doors  are  the  railroad  tracks  and  dumping  grounds. 
The  only  good  influence  which  these  youths  and  boys 
may  have  is  the  small  park  with  a  supervised  playground. 
A  broadcast  distribution  of  wholesome  outdoor  recre- 
ation for  the  very  poor  boy  can,  in  a  large  degree,  offset 
the  perils  of  the  saloon  and  of  the  cheap  amusement 
theater,  as  well  as  of  the  summer  amusement  parks,  to 
which  these  children  and  young  people  are  now  prac- 
tically driven. 

EDUCATION. 
Delinquents  The  second  contributing  cause  to  ju- 

Below  Average  venile  delinquency  is  shown  by  our  sta- 
in Scholarship  ^j^^.^g  ^^  ^^  ^^^  company.  As  this 
and  Ordinary  •       ,       ,         i       ,  , 

Intelligence  cause  is  closely  related  to  the  question 

of  truancy,  the  latter  will  now  be  taken 
up  and  considered,  together  with  the  educational  records 
of  our  cases.  To  begin  with  the  latter — the  school  record 
as  given  by  the  County  Jail  youths  themselves  was  made 
the  basis  for  the  figures  in  Table  5.  From  their  own  state- 
ments it  appears  that  4  of  the  boys  had  had  no  education 
whatever;  3  had  left  school  before  they  were  11  years 
old ;  2  had  left  when  they  were  12  years ;  6  at  the  age  of 
13  years ;  55  at  the  age  of  14  years ;  19  at  15  years ;  14  at 
16  years;  2  at  17  years,  and  3  at  18  years.  Considered 
by  grades,  4  boys  had  left  school  from  the  second  grade; 
7  from  the  third  grade ;  9  from  the  fourth ;  12  from  the 
fifth;  19  from  the  sixth;  20  from  the  seventh,  and  20 
from  the  eighth.  Seven  boys  had  attended  high  school, 
and  2  had  gone  to  college.  Inasmuch  as  these  statements 
were  obtained  from  the  boys  themselves,  however,  tliey 
16 


may  not  be  altogether  reliable,  as  the  boys  naturally 
would  want  to  appear  to  the  best  advantage.  When  sub- 
jected to  an  educational  test,  it  was  evident  that  on  the 
whole  they  were  far  below  the  average  in  education,  and 
Mr.  McLane,  the  teacher  in  the  County  Jail,  considers 
them  far  below  the  average  in  ordinary  intelligence.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  find  an  explanation  of  the  discrep- 
ancy between  their  alleged  standing  and  their  actual  edu- 
cational equipment  in  the  fact  that  their  own  statements 
take  no  account  of  truancy,  whereas  from  other  records 
we  know  that  truancy  plays  a  large  part  in  the  delin- 
quency of  such  boys  as  these.  Inquiry  in  the  Compul- 
sory Education  Department  brought  out  the  following 
data :  Thirty-eight  boys  out  of  the  100  had  records  in 
this  department  as  truants.  In  addition  there  were  many 
whose  truancy  was  due  to  suspension,  or  to  trouble  with 
the  teacher — a  phase  of  truancy  not  often  reported  to 
the  truancy  department  nor  noted  on  the  records. 

TABLE  V  .:    '■''"'    '  ■ 

School  Record. 

Left  School  at  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  Total 
Grade 

Second 1         1                  1                  1       4 

Third 1  5  1        2       ..       ..  9 

Fourth 1       ..  5  2        1       ..       ..  9 

Fifth 1       9        2       12 

Sixth 1  15  2        2                . .  19 

Seventh 2  10  2        5                  1  20 

Eighth 1  10  5        3        1  20 

High    School 1  ..  4        1         1       ..  7 

College 2  2 

No  education.     3       1        4 

5        1        2        6      55       19      14        2        3      106 
17 


.  ^  _,  The  boys  who  were  once  truants  are 

A  Truant  To-  ^  ,  rr^, 

(jgy ^  Tramp     ahnost   sure   to  go   wrong   later.     The 

Tomorrow  children  of  the  poor  have  at  best  a  hard 

time,  without  parental  supervision  over 
their  studies.  But  at  least,  while  they  attend  school  reg- 
ularly they  are  forced  by  the  system  to  keep  up  with  the 
class.  But  once  they  drop  out,  even  for  the  shortest  pos- 
sible time,  they  are  almost  sure  to  lose  what  little  per- 
functory interest  they  have  had  in  their  school  work ; 
they  fall  behind ;  if  disciplined  or  suspended  they  eventu- 
ally become  truants.  And  these  boys  who  fall  by  the 
wayside  in  their  studies  usually  fall  by  the  wayside  moral- 
ly as  well,  for  they  know  that  in  order  to  be  secure  from 
the  truant  officer  they  njust  hide  somewhere.  Thus,  in 
vacant  lots  and  even  in  caves  and  deserted  barns  they 
foregather  with  the  tramp,  the  criminal,  and  the  vicious 
of  every  description.  Here  they  discover  another  world 
— a  class  of  people  "up  against  it"  like  themselves,  hid- 
ing from  the  authorities.  Inspired  by  such  examples, 
the  truants  band  themselves  into  gangs  and  thence  the 
downward  path  is  by  a  steep  grade.  Every  "gang,"  as 
we  are  told  by  Dr.  Hoben  in  his  recent  book,  The  Minis- 
ter and  the  Boy,  is  led  by  an  older  boy,  who  can  provide 
his  henchmen  with  cigarettes,  tobacco,  beer,  and  not 
infrequently  with  cocaine  and  other  poisons,  physical  and 
moral.  Here,  in  the  gang,  beneath  the  glamor  of  adven- 
ture, the  youth  is  for  the  first  time  consciously  and 
shamelessly  familiarized  with  defiance  of  law  and  society. 
A  Study  of  ^'-^^  truancy,  it  has  been  said,  is  not 

Truancy  by  itself  a  disease  but  rather  a  symptom. 

Gertrude  Howe     Its  causes  need  to  be  carefully  studied 
Bntton  ^j^(j   remedies   suggested.      Such   an   in- 

tensive  study   of   the   truancy   question     was  made  by 
18 


Gertrude  Howe  Britton,  in  An  Intensive  Study  of  the 
Causes  of  Truancy  (1906),  ^  summary  of  which  is  given 
herewith : 

TABLE  VI 
Truancy  Record  for  1912. 

Illness    (child   or  in    family) 22,963 

Kept  home  for  cause 11, 770 

Lack  of   shoes   or   clothing 3,405 

Home  conditions 376 

Other  causes  2,390 

Total,  poverty  as  cause 40,898 

Parental    inefficiency 4,695 

Truancy   absences 5,153 

Excluded  by  medical  inspection 1,082 

Suspended  by  school  authorities 1,011 

Cold  weather  or   distance 611 

Repeaters 1,352 

Incorrigibles 244 

Subnormals 105 

Total,  other  causes  than  poverty 14,273 

CAUSES  OF  TRUANCY  REMEDIES 

I — Problem?  trom  Without  the  School. 
1.  Health— 

a.  Underdevelopment.  Ungraded  schools  or  classes. 

b.  Subnormal.  Special   schools. 

c.  Physical    defects :      Deaf-      Special    schools    for    deaf    and 

ness,    partial    blindness,  dumb,     blind     and     crippled 

physical   deformity.  children. 

d.  Malnutrition  —  responsi-       Establishment  of  school  meals. 

ble  for  mental  dulness 
and   stupidity. 

e.  Illness — child    legitimately      School  nurse. 

dismissed  on  account  of 
illness  and  does  not  re- 
turn when  recovered. 

f.  Delay   in   vaccination.  School  nurse. 

19 


CAUSES  OF  TRUANCY 
g.  Lack  of  vitality. 


2.  Poverty— 

a.  Home   environment. 


b.  Lack  of  clothing. 


Lack  of  cleanliness. 


d.  Unfamiliarity     with     lan- 


REMEDIES 
Establishment   of    more  public 
playgrounds      and      directed 

gymnastics. 

To  be  partially  remedied  by 
co-operation  with  neighbor- 
hood agencies  and  relief  so- 
cieties. 

School  Children's  Aid  Society 
of  Chicago. 

School  baths  established  in  63 
Chicago  schools. 

Special  schools  for  foreign- 
born  children. 


guage,  making  it  hard 
for  foreign-born  chil- 
dren to  comprehend. 

e.  Indifference  of  parents — 
child  does  not  find  any 
connection  between 
home  and  school. 

II — Problems  from  Within  the  School. 

Method  of  Enrolment — 

a.  Original  entry.  A  cer- 
tain percentage  of  chil- 
dren are  never  regis- 
tered in  any  school. 


Parents'  associations — evening 
lecture  courses — more  school 
training  toward  increased 
earning  capacity. 


Transfers — failure  to  reg- 
ister when  the  family 
has  moved  into  a  new 
district. 


A  school  census  by  districts  to 
be  taken  every  spring  or 
summer,  so  that  at  the  open- 
ing of  school  in  September 
the  authorities  may  know 
how  many  children  of  school 
age  live  in  their  respective 
district  and  for  whom  facili- 
ties should  be  provided. 

Every  principal  should  have  a 
clerk,  whose  business  it 
should  be  to  look  after  the 
whereabouts 'of  the  children 
of  the  district,  to  follow 
them  up  when  they  move; 
also  to  keep  track  of  those 
in  private  schools. 


20 


CAUSES  OF  TRUANCY 

2.  Suspension — 

a.  For  tardiness — tardy  chil- 

dren sent  home  for  rest 
of  day. 

b.  For     absences  —  dropping 

children  from  the  rolls 
when  they  have  been 
absent  for  from  4  to 
10  days. 

c.  For  incorrigibility. 


3.  Lack  of  Interest  and  Initia 
tive — 
a.  Overcrowding. 


REMEDIES 

Discussion  with  experienced 
teachers  of  change  in  method 
of  deaUng  with  tardiness. 

School  recorder  should  ascer- 
tain exact  reason  for  absence 
and  probable  date  of  return. 


Abolition  of  suspension  for  in- 
corrigibiHty.  If  necessary, 
child  should  be  sent  to  Pa- 
rental School,  but  not  turned 
out  on  the  street. 


b.  Discouragement   of   child. 


Teacher  in  overcrowded  room 
has  little  chance  to  establish 
personal  relations  with  indi- 
vidual children — 35  children 
to  room  should  be  maximum. 

Points  to  needed  changes  in 
curriculum  —  more  manual 
training,  more  school  gar- 
dens, science  work  with  ex- 
cursions. 
Note — Special  attention  should  be  paid  to  work  of  3rd  and 
5th  grades,  where  largest  proportion  of  truancy  occurs. 

Little  could  be  added  to  the  remedies  here  suggested 
and  these  should  be  insisted  upon  and  carried  out. 

„        ^    ^  A    further   cause   of    juvenile    delin- 

Poor   Lads  ,  ,       ,     •"  •        ,       •  , 

Need   Vacation     Quency  and  one  closely  associated  with 
School  truancy,   indeed  leading  to   it  in  many 

cases,    is    the    long    summer    vacation. 
This  is  particularly  true  in  the  case  of  boys  in  semi-func- 
tional homes.     The  law  does  not  allow  these  lads  to  go 
21 


to  work  under  the  age  of  14  years.  The  homes  are 
squaHd  and  ding)'.  The  streets  are  full  of  moral  and 
physical  dangers.  Where,  then,  should  the  boy  spend 
his  time  during  the  warm  summer  days?  It  is  at  this 
season  that  he  usually  gets  his  first  taste  of  idleness, 
which. he  is  unwilling  to  relinquish  when  the  schools  re- 
open. The  attempt  made  in  this  city  to  have  the  schools 
open  for  a  vacation  session  is  a  move  in  the  right  direc- 
tion, but  it  should  make  attendance  obligatory  just  as  in 
winter  and  should  maintain  the  same  hours.  The  school 
at  Gary,  Indiana,  is  an  excellent  example  of  what  can 
be  accomplished  in  this  respect. 

OCCUPATION. 
_  .     „,  From  the   data  gathered   we   derived 

Per  Cent  Had  ^^^  following  facts  in  regard  to  the  oc- 
a  Trade  cupations  of  juvenile-adult  delinquents. 

Forced  to  enter  the  industrial  world 
early,  without  any  trade,  these  boys  work  at  any  odd 
job  they  can  get.  These  jobs  they  "hold  down"  on  the 
average,  three  months.  Then  they  change  not  only  to  an- 
other place,  but  in  many  cases  to  an  entirely  different 
kind  of  work.  One  of  these  lads  went  from  an  employ- 
ment as  messenger  boy  to  another  as  dishwasher  in  a 
restaurant.  Naturally  such  a  lad  grows  up  without  a 
steady  trade  or  skill  in  any  one  occupation.  According 
to  the  government  reports,  the  wages  of  the  unskilled 
laborer  who  leaves  school  before  14  years  of  age  increase 
slowly  until  he  is  20  years  old — from  $3  to  $10  per  week. 
There  he  remains  stationary  until  he  is  40  years  old, 
when  his  earning  capacity  begins  to  decline.  From  the 
statistics  obtained  by  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associa- 
tion officers  in  regard  to  the  present  cases  we  learn  that 
22 


only  3  per  cent  had  a  trade,  the  rest  being  without  any 
preparation  for  earning  a  livelihood.  Further,  only  6 
per  cent  worked  at  an  occupation  they  liked,  and  all  the 
others  were  obliged  to  do  anything  that  came  their  way. 
To  take  one  illustration  :  Nineteen  boys  had  the  ambition 
to  become  machinists.  Of  these,  4  worked  as  wagon 
boys ;  1  as  a  farmer ;  3  as  errand  boys ;  1  as  an  office  boy ; 
4  as  laborers ;  2  as  grocery  clerks ;  3  as  store  boys,  and  1 
as  a  chauffeur. 


23 


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Here  again,  Chicago  with  all  its  coiii- 
Chicago  s  mercial  pride  has  no  trade  school  where 

Need— a  Free  V^^^S  people  may  go  after  leaving  the 
Trade  School  grammar  school,  while  cities  like  New 
York  and  Boston  have  fine  free  trade 
schools,  and  even  Cleveland  and  Milwaukee  offer  their 
young  people  this  facility.  Neither  the  truancy  laws  nor 
the  child  labor  legislation  provide  for  the  youth  who,  be- 
cause he  is  unskilled  in  any  trade,  is  often  without  a  job 
and  is  thus  forced  to  walk  the  street  where  he  learns 
things  less  desirable  than  an  honest  trade,  at  a  greater 
cost  to  the  city  and  state.  Indeed,  this  matter  of  a  free 
trade  school  is  the  most  crying  need  of  the  present  time 
in  Chicago.  Many  a  poor  mother  has  complained  to  the 
officer  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  that  "the 
children  were  wasting  time,  that  they  were  forced  to  go 
to  school  in  order  to  provide  jobs  for  the  teachers." 
This  naive  statement  falls  in  very  nicely  with  the  unani- 
mous objection  of  the  boys  themselves  that  their  school- 
ing did  nothing  to  help  them  to  get  and  keep  positions. 
A  trade  school  would  fit  these  young  fellows  for  a  trade, 
and  it  would  naturally  act  as  a  clearing  house,  where  the 
employer  might  come  for  his  skilled  w^orkers.  A  feeling 
of  self  respect  and  independence  would  thus  be  engen- 
dered in  the  boy,  by  the  consciousness  that  he  was  able 
to  take  care  of  himself,  that  would  make  for  good  and 
useful  citizenship. 

Nationality  Taking  the  oflfenses  by  the  nationality 

Records  of  of  the  offenders,  we  have  in  105  cases : 

Delinquents  Six  American  white ;  7  colored ;  5  Eng- 

an    Interesting      H^h  ;  14  German  ;  2  French  ;  10  Italian  ; 
19  Polish;   5   Bohemian;   1   Norwegian; 
2  Greek;  20  Irish;  8  Scotch;  5  Slavonian;  1  Syrian. 
26 


A  comparative  study  of  Table  8  (Nationality  of 
Offenders)  will  prove  instructive.  The  statistics  of  this 
table,  however,  are  not  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  war- 
rant any  hard  and  fast  conclusions.  Studied  collaterally 
with  the  next  table,  however,  its  data  will  be  clearer. 
This  table  (IX)  summarizes  criminality  in  Chicago 
with  reference  to  nationalitv. 


27 


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Table  10  is  a  report  of  the  Chicago  Police  Department 
for  1911.  The  figures  there  in  a  measure  corroborate 
the  figures  in  Table  8,  though  each  has  a  difi:erent  basis 
of  tabulation.  Table  10,  however,  is  onl}^  a  superficial 
arrangement,  since  the  police  officers  are  not  the  best 
judges  in  regard  to  nationality  of  individuals.  Under 
the  heading  of  "American  AA'hite,"  for  instance,  can  be 
found  many  foreigners  who  speak  good  English.  Again, 
the  heading  "Austrian"  is  somewhat  misleading  since  it 
omits  Hungarians,  whereas  Bohemians,  Poles  and  Sla- 
vonians are  classed  separately.  With  all  its  inaccuracies, 
however,  this  table  deserves  a  careful  study  in  regard  to 
the  national  classification  of  our  cases  of  delinquency 
and,  in  a  measure,  it  corroborates  our  own  conclusions. 

V.'hile  the  religious    affiliation    of    the 
Churches  ^  -^    .,  ,  , 

Fc^udiate  County  Jail   cases   does   not,   of   course, 

Responsibility  afford  any  absolute  knowledge  of  the 
immediate  influence  of  this  or  that  re- 
ligious creed  upon  its  followers,  the  very  fact  that  all  the 
lads  actually  avowed  some  religious  affiliation,  is  worthy 
of  note  and  lays  a  certain  share  of  responsibility  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  clergy  of  the  respective  denomina- 
tions. Among  the  religious  memberships  claimed  are: 
Eight  Methodist,  2  Baptist,  2  Episcopalians,  8  Luther- 
ans, 7  other  Protestants,  5  Jews,  3  Greek  Catholics,  anr 
65  Roman  Catholics  (35  of  these  attended  the  parochial 
schools).  In  fairness  to  all,  it  should  be  said  that  the 
South  Germans,  Slavs,  Polish,  and  Irish  delinquents  (all 
Catholics)  are  among  our  poorest  immigrants,  and  there- 
fore experience  greatest  difficulty  in  coping  with  condi- 
tions. The  clergy  on  the  other  hand,  claim  that  these 
oflfenders  do  not  rightfully  belong  to  the  Catholic  church, 
30 


Table  10  is  a  report  of  the  Chicago  Police  Department 
for  1911.  The  figures  there  in  a  measure  corroborate 
the  figures  in  Table  8,  though  each  has  a  difirerent  basis 
of  tabulation.  Table  10,  however,  is  only  a  superficial 
arrangement,  since  the  police  officers  are  not  the  best 
judges  in  regard  to  nationality  of  individuals.  Under 
the  heading  of  "American  White,"  for  instance,  can  be 
found  many  foreigners  who  speak  good  English.  Again, 
the  heading  "Austrian"  is  somewhat  misleading  since  it 
omits  Hungarians,  whereas  Bohemians,  Poles  and  Sla- 
vonians are  classed  separately.  With  all  its  inaccuracies, 
however,  this  table  deserves  a  careful  study  in  regard  to 
the  national  classification  of  our  cases  of  delinquency 
and,  in  a  measure,  it  corroborates  our  own  conclusions. 

^,       ,  While  the  religious    affiliation    of    the 

Churches  t    •,  ,  r 

^'e^udiate  County  Jail   cases   does  not,   of   course, 

Responsibility  afi^ord  any  absolute  knowledge  of  the 
immediate  influence  of  this  or  that  re- 
ligious creed  upon  its  followers,  the  very  fact  that  all  the 
lads  actually  avowed  some  religious  affiliation,  is  worthy 
of  note  and  lays  a  certain  share  of  responsibility  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  clergy  of  the  respective  denomina- 
tions. Among  the  religious  memberships  claimed  are: 
Eight  Methodist,  2  Baptist,  2  Episcopalians,  8  Luther- 
ans, 7  other  Protestants,  5  Jews,  3  Greek  Catholics,  anr 
65  Roman  Catholics  (35  of  these  attended  the  parochial 
schools).  In  fairness  to  all,  it  should  be  said  that  the 
South  Germans,  Slavs,  Polish,  and  Irish  delinquents  (all 
Catholics)  are  among  our  poorest  immigrants,  and  there- 
fore experience  greatest  difficulty  in  coping  with  condi- 
tions. The  clergy  on  the  other  hand,  claim  that  these 
offenders  do  not  rightfully  belong  to  the  Catholic  church, 
30 


POLICE    DEPARTMENT    REPORT    OF    ARRESTS    FOR    1911 


FELONIES 

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Abandonment  ot  wUe  or  children 

Adultery  and  tornlealion 

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33(1 

....  .^.^. 
2316 

"■Sl 

790 
8.843 

29 
6,71? 

sso 

TMal 

34,973 

1849 

4263 

106D 

1536 

190 

416 

81 

230 

1 

326 

16 

508 

119 

168 

506 

1737 

4 

111 

5 

2526 

.07 

1930 

427 

860 

76 

519 

49 

318 

273 

390 

36 

280 

I.J8 

,66 

1 

811 

8.929 

ll 


inasmuch  as  they  are  not  in  active  attendance.  Several 
priests  with  v/hom  the  writer  discussed  this  matter,  urged 
him  to  ask  these  dehnquents  whether  they  attended  Sun- 
day Mass,  went  to  Communion,  and  ate  hsh  on  Fridays. 
"Their  answers  will  convince  you,"  concluded  one  of 
them,  himself  a  professor  at  Notre  Dame  College,  that 
these  boys  are  Catholics  only  in  name." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  same  kind  of  explana- 
tion  was  given  by  a  Jewish  rabbi  in  regard  to  the  Jew- 
ish delinquents.  "The  Jewish  boys  have  no  more  claim 
upon  Judaism  than  the  others  upon  Christianity,"  said 
he.  "At  best,  their  parents  happened  to  be  Jews ;  that  is 
all  the  justification  they  have  for  calling  themselves 
such." 

From  our  statistics  it  would  seem  that 
Environment  ,••  ^     •    ■         ,         11  ■    n 

^  religious  trammg  has  had  no  mnuence 

More  Potent  '^  ,^,.  t       ■  1 

Than  Relic^ious  "PO"  these  dehnquents.  Jewisn  or 
Training  Catholic  boys  of  a  decent  neighborhood 

are    decent    fellows,    while    those    sur- 
rounded by  sordid  conditions  usually  get  into  trouble. 

THE    POLICE    DEPARTMENT    AND    JUVENILE 
DELINQUENCY. 

More  Un-  Since    Captain    Alexander    R.    Piper 

punished  Crime     ,.,^^q  i^;^  famous  report  to  the  City  Club 

m       }^'^^°  of    Chicago    on    the   Chicago    Police    in 

than  m  Any  ^^ ,  . 

Other  City  1904,  a  great  many  improvements  have 

been  introduced  into  the  department, 
iiis  main  criticisms,  however,  still  hold  good.  First, 
there  are  not  sufficient  men  on  the  force  for  the  size  of 
the  city.  There  are  194.45  square  miles  in  the  city  of 
Chicago,  and  this  area  is  policed  by  4,437  ofificers,  in- 
31 


eluding  officials,  detectives,  stable  men,  matrons  and 
clerks.  It  stands  to  reason  that  with  such  an  inadequate 
force,  the  work  of  the  police  department  cannot  be  done 
effectively.  Hence,  the  second  stricture — the  inefficiency 
of  the  police.  Undetected  robberies  are  constantly  com- 
mitted, and  more  holdups  and  more  murders  are  unpun- 
ished in  Chicago  than  in  any  other  large  city  in  this  coun- 
try.* It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  so  much  vice  and 
lawlessness  should  flourish,  and  that  gambling  and  drink- 
ing should  go  on  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  police.  It 
is  a  well  known  fact,  which  has  been  brought  out  by  Mr. 
Morrison  in  his  book  Juvenile  Offenders  (1897)  that 
lack  of  vigilance  is  a  great  inducement  to  crime,  and  that 
since  Scotland  Yards  has  increased  its  efficiency,  crimin- 
ality has  proportionately  decreased  in  London. 

TABLE  XI. 
Police  Record  for  1911. 

Persons  arrested 81,649 

Arraigned  in  Municipal  Court 80,649 

Persons   arrested  under   16  years 47 

From  16  to  20  years  of  age 8,423 

Held  to  Grand  Jury 2,783 

Held  to  Juvenile   Court 64 

Fined 30,612 

Discharged 49,034 

Sent  to  House  of  Correction 1,116 

Occupations. 

Unskilled    laborers 34,536 

No  occupation 9,619 


*Crimcs    and    Criminals,    published    Ijy    the    Prison    Reform 
League;  also  the  Chicago  Tribune,  March  4,  1906. 

32 


^      ,.  .         r  Another  factor  in  the  denioraHzation 

Condition  of 

Lock-ups  °^  ^'^^  juvenile  offender  is  subjection  to 

Demoralizing  l)rutahzing  influences,  due  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  lock-ups  and  cells  in  the 
police  stations.  In  most  of  the  stations  the  cells  are  in 
the  basements,  which  are  always  din^/,  damp,  unsanitary 
and  generally  unfit  for  human  habitation.  No  pure  air 
and  no  direct  rays  of  the  sun  ever  reach  them.  The  sur- 
face of  the  brick  walls  is  rough,  unclean  and  vermin- 
ridden.  A>ry  few  have  sanitary  water  closets;  most  of 
the  lock-ups  have  either  buckets  which  are  unspeakably 
vile,  or  troughs  which  are  supposedly  flushed  with  water, 
though  as  a  rule  the  sewage  is  quite  neglected.  Most  of 
these  cells  are  not  only  filthy  but  they  are  actual  breeding 
places  of  contagion  and  loathsome  diseases.  In  some 
stations  the  cells  are  often  so  packed  with  inmates  that 
the  prisoners  have  to  stand  all  night.  In  one  place  which 
the  writer  inspected  the  filth  covering  the  floor  of  the 
cells  and  the  stench  were  suffocating,  and  this  was  in  the 
daytime,  when  there  were  comparatively  few  prisoners 
in  the  cells.  In  another  station  there  were  8  cells — 5 
for  men  and  3  for  women — all  in  a  row.  There  was  a 
kind  of  trough  running  through  the  cells  which  "worked 
very  badly."  according  to  the  officer  who  acted  as  guide. 
A  small,  dingy  room  next  to  the  women's  cells,  with 
wretched  water  and  plumbing  accommodations,  was 
shown  the  visitor  as  the  kitchen,  and  an  old  woman  who 
was  introduced  as  the  matron  said  that  when  the  cells 
were  overcrowded  she  took  into  her  room  (the  just  men- 
tioned kitchen)  the  young  girls  who  were  arrested. 
33 


,,  ^>,„  T-v      •      ,         That  this  provision  for  the  prisoners 
81,648  Detained  ^      .  .  ^ 

in  Lock-ups  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^  crime  against  those  locked 

Last  Year  up,  but  against  the  coiiiuiunity  at  large, 

is  evident  to  every  one  who  reads  the 
report  of  the  Police  Department  for  1911.  .  According 
to  this  report,  81,648  persons  were  locked  up  in  the  vari- 
ous stations  last  year.  Most  of  this  number  were  kept 
in  prison  over  Saturday  and  Sunday  nights,  as  these 
nights  are,  in  the  words  of  the  police,  "the  busiest  even- 
ings in  the  week."  Of  the  number  given,  9,840  were 
women  and  1,380  were  young  girls.  Under  the  condition 
described  above,  one  may  realize  the  utter  degradation 
of  a  lock-up  over  night  in  one  of  these  dens.  To  appre- 
ciate fully  the  danger  which  these  cells  are  to  the  com- 
munity, it  must  be  remembered  that  in  a  great  number 
of  cases  innocent  persons  are  taken  into  custody.  Thus, 
of  the  great  number  of  arrests  in  1911,  49,934  persons 
were  discharged  by  the  municipal  judge  when  their  cases 
came  up  for  trial.  These  persons,  therefore,  must  have 
been  innocent.  Of  the  women  alone,  1,920  were  arrested 
only  to  be  held  as  witnesses  in  cases  wherein  they  were 
not  immediately  concerned.  The  police  officer  is  not  a 
judge  and  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  decide  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment  whether  the  accused  should  be  taken  into 
custody  or  not.  He  has  to  do  what  he  is  ordered  when 
there  seems  to  be  a  bona  fide  charge.  Such  innocent 
people  then,  witnesses  and  wrongfully  accused,  are  sub- 
jected to  the  horrible  and  disease-breeding  surroundings 
of  the  station  lock-ups,  and  when  freed  they  bring  home 
with  them  infections  which  they  spread  in  the  community 
that  is  really  responsible  for  this  state  of  things. 
34 


^  ,^1    Of  There   is   a  federal  law   in   regard  to 

Cattle  Safe-  ° 

guarded  against  placing  cattle  in  stock  cars— to  the 
Overcrowding—  effect  that  they  must  not  he  so 
Not  So  Human  crowded  that  there  is  no  room  for  the 
Prisoners  cattle  to  lie  down,  but  there  are  no  laws 

and  regulations  which  take  similar  care  of  human  beings. 
In  private  houses  and  hotels  the  Board  of  Health  has  a 
right  to  quarantine  a  place  where  there  is  a  contagious 
case,  but  the  police  stations,  full  as  they  are  of  infections 
and  contaminations,  are  free  from  interference  from  the 
Health  Department. 

Another  great  wrong  is  committed  in 
Innocent  and    •       ,  ■  ,         ,        r   ■■,  i 

Guilty  Herded  ^'^^  stations  by  the  failure  to  make  a 
Together  good  classification  of  the  prisoners.     As 

those  arrested  are  held  only  for  a  night 
or  two.  the  classification  could  practically  be  made  on  the 
basis  of  the  personal  appearance  of  the  prisoners.  At 
present  decent  men  are  often  made  cellmates  with  the 
vilest,  the  innocent  are  herded  with  the  guilty  and  men 
cleanly  in  person  and  clothing  are  placed  with  the  filthy 
and  vermin-covered. 

No  Steriliza-  ^'^gain,     the    drinking    cups    and    the 

tion  of  Dishes  dishes  are  never  sterilized,  notwithstand- 
ing they  are  used  indiscriminately  by  all 
persons.  This  careless  use  of  the  food  utensils  in  the  sta- 
tions is  especially  dangerous  because  so  many  prisoners 
are  diseased  in  various  ways,  while  others  are  so  lacking 
in  vitality  as  to  be  an  easy  prey  to  infections  and  con- 
tagions. 

Rumors  of  ^'^    ^'^^   cases    v.diich   our   Association 

Police  Abuse         investigated  it  was  found  that  there  was 

a  good   deal  of  police   abuse,   much   of 

which  calls  for  investigation  and  trial  of  those  implicated. 

35 


In  some  cases  the  parents  of  arrested  boys  are  not  noti- 
fied by  the  police  of  the  phght  of  their  sons.  Indeed,  we 
have  had  cases  where  the  poor  mother  learned  of  the  ar- 
rest of  her  boy  only  through  the  newspaper.  Of  course 
the  police  explanation  of  this  is  the  fact  that  the  boys 
frequently  give  fictitious  names  and  addresses,  but  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  only  in  a  very  few  instances 
were  the  boys  unwilling  that  their  parents  should  learn 
of  their  disgrace. 

But   there   are   more   serious   charges 

o  ^u  "  J  '  against  these  officers,  which,  if  substan- 
Sandbagged  .        ,       ,  ...  .  - 

and  Otherwise      tiated,    show    a   barbarity   quite   out   of  - 
Terrorized  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  modern  times. 

They  betoken  a  reversion  to  the  inquis- 
itorial methods  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Thus  there  are 
10  complaints  of  as  many  boys  in  the  County  Jail  alleg- 
ing terrible  beatings  and  torture  inflicted  upon  them  by 
police  officers  for  one  reason  or  another.  In  some  in- 
stances even  lieutenants  are  involved  in  these  shameful 
charges.  An  illustration  of  this  practice  is  afforded  by 
Case  No.  25.  "He  was  beaten  with  a  billy  and  also  with 
a  sandbag;  knocked  down  three  times  and  kicked.  All 
this,  in  an  endeavor  to  make  him  confess  to  something 
he  did  not  do!"  Another  instance  in  Case  26.  "The 
boy  was  taken  to  a  small  room  in  the  station  and  struck 
with  a  billy.  They  knocked  him  down  and  kicked  him 
in  the  stomach.  This  was  done  to  force  him  to  give  in- 
formation against  other  lads."  Case  53 :  "A  police 
lieutenant  tried  to  make  this  boy  confess.  Took  him  by 
the  throat  and  choked  him.  Hit  him  with  the  fist  and 
knocked  out  a  tooth.  He  then  pulled  the  boy  by  the 
hair."  Case  63  :  "Police  officers  at  a  West  Side  station 
beat  one  of  the  boys  and  poured  a  bucket  of  cold  water 
36 


over  him.  When  this  did  not  produce  the  vvished-for 
effect,  they  threatened  to  pour  hot  water  over  him." 
Case  51:  "An  officer  and  a  heutenant  abused  a  boy 
shamefully.  The  lieutenant  pulled  him  by  the  hair  and 
the  officer  kicked  him." 

TABLE  XII 
Grievances. 


,10 


inform 


Miscellaneous 7 

Wrongly    arrested 5 

Held   wrongly   in  jail 1 

Police  persecution 2 


"Third   Degree 
an  Outrage  in 
Civilized 
Country 


Police  abuse 

*Police     neglect     to 

parents  of   arrest 6 

Lawyer's   mistreatment 6 

Judge's    mistreatment 2 

The  Central  Howard  Association  also 
has  evidence  of  cases  of  police  abuse 
and,  in  one  case,  corroborative  evidence. 
Yet  when  the  case  was  referred  to  the 
attention  of  the  Chief  of  Police,  he  dis- 
missed it  with  the  reply  that  the  Trial  Board  will  not  con- 
sider accusations  against  officers  v>'hen  brought  by  crim- 
inals. Some  means  should,  therefore,  be  found  whereby 
such  practices  may  be  brought  to  light  and  eradicated. 
The  whole  question  of  "The  Third  Degree"  of  the  po- 
lice is  so  vitally  important  to  the  community  that  all  pub- 
lic men  should  unite  in  the  effort  to  make  its  practice  in 
a  civilized  country  an  impossibility. 


This  investigation  brought  to  light  an 
injustice  often  perpetrated  upon  inno- 
cent boys  through  the  Identification 
Bureau.  Captain  M.  F.  Evans,  in  his 
report  to  the  Chief  of  Police  in  1911, 
stated  that  5,338  cases  were  brought  to  his  Bureau  to  be 


Innocent  Per- 
sons Often 
Photographed 
for   Rogues' 
Gallery 


*Police  say  correct  names  not  always  given. 
37 


photographed  and  described.    Out  of  this  number,  2,383 

were  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  some  penal  institu- 
tion, while  2,955  were  discharged.  As  this  "mugging 
system,"  as  it  is  called,  is  supposed  to  be  for  the  purpose 
of  identifying  the  criminal  later,  if  he  escapes  after  his 
conviction,  it  is  inexplicable  why  the  photographs  of 
about  3,000  innocent  persons  should  be  placed  in  the 
rogues'  gallery.  It  seems  that  the  rules  are  so  made  that 
only  poor  prisoners,  who  are  unable  to  secure  bail,  are 
"mugged,"  while  those  who  can  get  bail  are  not  subjected 
to  this  indignity,  inasmuch  as  they  do  not  return  to  their 
cells  even  when  held  to  the  grand  jury  after  the  super- 
ficial preliminary  hearing.  It  should  be  the  invariable 
rule  of  the  department  that  as  soon  as  a  defendant  is 
found  not  guilty,  his  photograph  should  be  destroyed. 

THE  MUNICIPAL  JUDGES. 

A  study  of  Table  13,  on  tlie  disposi- 
A  Few  Short-  .^j^^  ^^  ^j^^  ,qq  ^^^^^^  ^  ^j^^  different 
comings  m  the  .   .      ,     .     ,  ,  ,  , 

Municipal  municipal   judges,    sho^vs   that   most   of 

Judiciary  the  judges  are  fully  abreast  of  modern 

methods  of  dealing  with  crirnnals  of 
the  juvenile-adult  class.  Nevertheless,  one  judge,  who 
held  8  cases  of  these  boy  offenders  to  the  grand  jury  had 
6  of  them  discharged  by  higher  authorities ;  in  3  cases 
the  jury  found  no  bill;  2  were  found  not  guilty  by  the 
juries  and  1  was  discharged  by  a  higher  court.  This  is 
a  doubtful  comment  on  the  discretion  of  the  said  judge. 
In  every  one  of  these  cases  the  municipal  judge  heard 
both  sides ;  after  this  he  decided  that  there  was  prima 
facie  evidence  against  the  accused.  However,  when  the 
matter  came  before  the  grand  jury  where  only  the  prose- 
cution has  a  chance  to  present  its  evidence,  the  jury  did 
•       38 


not  find  sufficient  evidence  to  hold  the  so-called  criminals. 
It  was  therefore  either  a  case  of  the  prosecution  not 
doing  its  full  duty,  or  of  the  judge  forgetting  that  the 
cell  and  the  jail  are  not  reformatory  agencies,  but  that 
a  boy  should  be  kept  from  them  wherever  possible. 
TABLE  XIII— Disposition. 


McGoorty 
Pinckney 
Scully  .  .  . 
Rooney    . 


o 

bo 

-o 

o 

-^ 

-g 

c 

c 

S 

o 

u 

U 

3 
14-3t 


2-lt 
5 

4— It 
2 

4-lt 


9 21 


Howe    1 

Himes  7 

McKinley    

Kersten    

Petit    

Fry    

Gemmill   

Decker    

Dolon    

Maxwell    

Newcomer    

Sullivan    

Caverly   

Walker  2 

Dever    1 

Heap    6 

Fake   2 

Honore    2  ; 

Cottrell    10 

tXumber  of  cases  not  yet  disposed  of 

39 


2       ^  .2  ^ 

£     3     §  3    -g     O 

S  -.  S  ->  .^  u 

fc           tn  Q 


2 

1* 

2 

2* 

1* 

9 

15 

1 

3 

2 

1* 

1 

1*         ' 

1* 

2 

3*        2 

*         1* 

2* 

11 

Cases 

already  c 

ounted. 

TABLE  XIV 

Number  of  Arrests  and  Convictions. 

Firt                   Second 

Third 

Arrest                 Arrest 

Arrest 

Bastardy    *3  

Rape   *3— $2  $1 

Robbery  *3_|2— §1     fl  t2— §4 

Stealing   *1 — $1  

Assault  and  battery. ...         $1  

Attempted  murder   Jl  

Murder   *1— 12  ^2 

Petty  larceny  *1— $2  *2 

Grand  larceny   *3  *1— $1 

Tamp,  with  U.   S.  mail   

Confidence  game   §1  :j:l — §1 

Contrib.  to  delinquency.*!            §1  

Disorderly  conduct    . . .  *1            §3  

Joy  riding §1  $1— §1 

Arson   

Burglary    *5— :i:4— §1  *1— $2— §2 

*Held  to  Grand  Jury.     ^Convicted.     fDischarged. 


*2 :j:2- 

*3 


*1— $2 


^3-$l- 


*1 

*3-t9-§l 
JParoled. 


Too   Little 
Discrimination 
between  First 
Offenders  and 
Habitual 
Delinquents 


The  investigation  disclosed  a  certain 
lack  of  discrimination  between  the  first 
and  repeated  offenses.  Table  14  shows 
that  in  a  great  many  instances  the  first 
offender  was  treated  on  a  plane  with 
the  hardened  transgressor.  To  take  the 
cases  of  burglary  as  typical  of  the  procedure  of  some 
judges — out  of  10  first  offenders  only  1  was  put  on  pro- 
bation,* while  the  others  were  either  held  over  to  the 
grand  jury  or  else  convicted.  Of  the  5  who  committed 
the  same  crime  the  second  time,  2  were  put  on  proba- 
tion.    Of  those  who  committed  burglary  for  the  third 


*This  is  done  by  changing  the  charge  to  petty  larceny. 
40 


time,  1  was  put  on  probation.  The  cases  of  highway 
robbery  afford  a  still  better  illustration  of  the  careless- 
ness of  the  judges  in  this  regard.  Here,  of  6  who  per- 
petrated robbery  for  the  first  time,  1  was  put  on  proba- 
tion, 3  were  held  to  the  grand  jury,  and  2  were  convicted. 
Of  the  7  who  were  brought  into  court  for  this  crime  for 
the  second  tim.e,  4  were  paroled,  2  were  convicted,  and  1 
was  discharged.  Of  the  6  who  committed  highway  rob- 
bery for  the  third  time,  2  were  put  on  probation,  2  were 
held  to  the  grand  jury,  and  2  were  convicted.  Of  course 
we  have  not  now  before  us  the  records  of  these  cases  to 
ascertain  the  possible  extenuating  circumstances.  There 
may  have  been  good  and  sufficient  reasons  for  the  cases 
to  be  decided  as  they  were.  Nevertheless,  the  statistics 
in  Table  14  suggest  very  strongly  the  need  of  more 
regard  for  the  distinction  between  a  first  and  a  second 
or  third  violation  of  the  same  law. 

The   Juvenile    Protective   Association 
oy  j^^^  .^^  j^g  possession  evidence  to  satisfy 

Rich  Abettor  '^  painstaking  inquirer  that  in  a  few  in- 
Goes  Scotfree  stances  justice  miscarried  through  the 
dishonesty  of  a  lawyer  or  the  criminal 
neglect  of  the  judge.  In  some  instances  the  judge  held 
the  culprits  but  discharged  those  who  instigated  the  crime 
or  bought  the  stolen  goods,  because  these  well-to-do  in- 
dividuals, the  parties  to  the  offense,  employed  a  lawyer 
who  had  illicit  and  undue  influence  with  the  magistrate. 
Case  4  affords  a  striking  instance  of  this  situation. 

In  this  case,  a  gang  broke  into  a  house  and  stole  jew- 
elry, which  they  sold  to  a  few  jewelers.     When  the  lads 
were  arrested  they  confessed  and  gave  the  names  of  the 
jewelers  who  had  purchased  the  stolen  goods.     When 
41 


the  case  came  to  trial,  the  jewelers  employed  a  lawyer 
who  had  once  been  a  partner  of  the  judge's.  The  boys 
were  sentenced  to  prison,  while  the  men  went  off  scot- 
free. 

Another  point  which  the  judges  may 
Short  Sentence  ^^  ^^^jj  ^^  consider  is  the  question  of 
Injurious  ,         ,  tv^  r     i 

the  short  sentence.     Many  of  them  still 

maintain  the  old  custom  of  imposing  a  two  or  three 
weeks'  sentence  upon  the  offenders.  This  practice  is  de- 
nounced by  students  of  penology  on  the  following 
grounds:  1.  It  farhiliarizes  the  delinquents  with  the 
jail,  without  making  them  afraid  of  it.  2.  It  gives 
them  an  opportunity  to  come  into  contact  with  criminals 
worse  than  themselves.  3.  It  embitters  the  offenders 
against  the  law  and  gives  them  a  contempt  for  it. 

^    ,  .  An   attempt   should   be  made  by  the 

Indeterminate  .  ,      ,  • 

Sentence  Chief  Justice  to  have  a  law  passed  whicn 

Desirable  would  give  the  judges  more  latitude  in 

imposing  indeterminate  sentences.     This 

power  would  be  an  eft'ective  instrument  in  the  hands  of 

a  good  judge. 

The  law  should  also  be  changed  in  re- 

Ponti^c"shouM     ^^''^  ^^  sending  young  offenders  to  Pon- 

Be  Extended         ^'^^-     ^*  present  only   offenders   under 

to  25  Years  the  age  of  18  may  be  sent  there.     This 

age  limit  should  be  extended  to  25  years.* 

As  this  institution  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  country  and 

really  reforms  the  inmates  by  teaching  them  trades,  it 

would  seem  best  to  extend  its  opportunities  to  a  longer 

period. 

*In  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  the  New  York  State  Reformatory,  the  age 
is  from  16  to  39  years. 

42 


-,     _,  .  A^ain,  there  are  instances  where  the 

No   Protection       ,  n  j      i  r      t    • 

from  Shyster        lawyers    fleeced    the    parents    of    their 
Lawyers  youthful  clients  while  the  boys  were  in 

jail  in  an  altogether  unprofessional 
way.  In  some  instances,  when  the  attorney  learned  that 
he  could  not  bleed  his  clients  any  further,  he  simply  and 
unceremoniously  failed  to  put  in  an  appearance  when  the 
case  came  up  for  trial.  Cases  17,  28  and  35c  are  instances 
of  this  outrage.  Case  17:  "The  boy  had  $20  when  he 
was  taken  to  the  County  Jail  and  deposited  it  with  the 
jailer.  The  attorney,  who  came  to  see  him  about  the 
case,  asked  him  for  a  note  to  the  jailer  for  $10  for  this 
consultation,  and  taking  care  of  the  case.  The  lawyer, 
however,  succeeded  in  persuading  the  jailer  to  give  him 
$19  of  the  money.  In  addition,  he  obtained  $10  from  the 
sister  of  the  boy  on  the  same  note."  Case  35c:  "Boy 
paid  a  lawyer  $4  and  his  brother  gave  the  man  $10  more, 
but  the  lawyer  never  appeared  to  defend  the  accused."* 
Such  experiences  are  enough  to  turn  the  ignorant 
youth  against  society  and  to  make  its  laws  seem  petty 
and  contemptible.  They  suggest  to  the  young  delinquent 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  honesty  in  the  world  and 
that  the  sole  reason  for  his  plight  lies  not  in  the  fact  that 
he  has  done  wrong,  but  that  he  was  not  astute  enough 
to  hide  his  guilt. 

THE  COUNTY  JAIL. 

The  cry  of  the  social  reformers  against  the  use  of  the 
County  Jail  for  the  detention  of  those  awaiting  trial  and 
for  convicted  criminals  is  not  new.     Most  of  our  penolo- 

*These  cases  were  reported  to  the  Chicago  Bar  Association 
and  were  later  taken  up  by  the  Grievance  Committee. 

43 


gists  have  denounced  the  County  Jail  in  no  measured 

terms.     Many  consider  it  worse  than  the  police  stations, 

because  in  the  County  Jail  delinquents 

Penologists  ^j-g  j^gp^  longer  under  the  same  perni- 

„  ,  .,  cious   influences.     The   main   objections 

County  Jail  ,       .    .,  ,  .  ,. 

to  the  jails   are — the  unsanitary  condi- 
tion, the  barbarous  treatment  of  delin- 
quents,   and  the  lack   of   facilities    for   segregation   and 
classification  of  criminals. 

The  Cook  County  Jail,  however,  is  a 

T  °?  i^    °""  ^        great    improvement    on    most    of    the 
Jail  Better,  ^  ,  f,.  ,        .    .,  i  ,        , 

but  Room  for  Others.  First,  the  jailers,  notably  the 
Improvement  present  one  and  his  immediate  prede- 
cessor, were  selected  mainly,  not  for 
political  reasons  but  as  capable  and  conscientious  men, 
who  were  fitted  for  their  position  both  by  knowledge  and 
training.  Mr.  Whitman  is  perhaps  the  ablest  penologist 
in  the  state,  and  his  successor,  Mr.  Davis,  has  already 
demonstrated  in  many  reforms  his  capability  and  his 
sympathy  with  the  unfortunate  people  under  his  care.  In 
addition,  the  Cook  County  Jail  has  good,  sanitary  cells 
in  the  new  building.  The  prisoners  are  kept  outside  of 
their  cells  as  long  as  possible — about  five  hours  a  day, 
and  they  are  ordered  to  walk  in  the  corridors  at  other 
times  whenever  occasion  permits.  The  food,  too,  is 
wholesome,  and  to  this  Mr.  Davis  attends  personally. 
The  jail  also  has  a  separate  tier  for  the  juvenile-adults, 
so  that  the  latter  are  segregated  from  the  older,  hardened 
delinquents.  Furthermore,  first  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Chicago  Woman's  Club  and  now  under  the  Civil 
Service  regulations,  there  is  a  teacher  provided  for  the 
boys  and  a  classroom  is  set  aside  for  them  where  they 
are  instructed  in  various  branches.  But  notwithstanding 
44 


much  that  is  excellent  in  its  regime,  even  the  Cook  County- 
Jail  is  in  certain  ways  a  menace  to  the  morals  of  the 
juvenile  offender. 

TABLE  XV 
County  Jail  Statistics  for  1911. 

Number   of    offenders    received 8,333 

Adults 6,944 

Juvenile-adults 1,389 

Number  of  Times  Arrested    (Juvenile-Adults) 

First 599 

Second 464 

Third  141 

Fourth 41 

Fifth 26 

Innumerable 27 

Total 1,298 

Number  of  persons  sent  to  House  of  Correction 1,203 

Transferred  to  a  reformatory 61 

Held  to  Juvenile  Court 8 

Discharged  1,118 

pp..  I.     Even  under  present  improved  con- 

fication  of  ditions  there  is  a  lack  of  scientific  separ- 

Prisoners  ation  and  classification  of  the  criminals. 

Persons  are  placed  in  the  same  tiers  and 
made  cell  mates  on  a  basis  of  social  or  national  classifi- 
cation. All  colored  prisoners  are  kept  on  one  tier.  A 
murderer  and  one  held  for  disorderly  conduct  may  thus 
be  put  in  the  same  cell.  All  Italians,  Poles,  Germans, 
etc.,  are  classified  according  to  nationality.  The  degree 
of  intelligence  is  as  little  considered  as  is  the  nature  of 
the  offense.  And  yet,  even  here  in  the  County  Jail  not 
all  the  prisoners  are  really  criminals.  There  are  not  in- 
frequently honest  persons  detained  here,  as  the  following 
prison  statistics  will  show : 

45 


In  the  County  Jail  are  detained: 

1.  Those  who  await  trial.  (They  may  be  charged 
only  with  disorderly  conduct,  or  on  the  other  hand  with 
murder). 

2.  Those  convicted  to  short  sentences  for  minor  of- 
fenses. 

3.  Those  held  as  witnesses  in  certain  important  trials 
concerning  whose  voluntary  appearance  the  state  is  in 
doubt. 

From  these  data  it  will  be  seen  hov/  eminently  wrong 
is  the  promiscuity  countenanced  in  the  present  system 
of  grouping  the  Cook  County  Jail  inmates. 

„        T,  .  II.     The  prisoners  are  kept  two  in  a 

iv/o   Prisoners  ^  ^ 

in  a  Cell  ^^^^-    -'-"  *^^  ^^^t  place,  the  cells  are  not 

large  enough  even  for  one  person ;  the 
air  is  therefore  very  bad.  In  the  second  place — and 
here  all  penologists  express  themselves  in  no  measured 
terms — the  placing  of  two  prisoners  in  one  cell  is  ob- 
jectionable on  moral  grounds. 

.,     ^  ,  ,  III.     When  we  come  to  observe  the 

Juvemle-Adults  .,,,.,       ^  t   -i  ' 

No  Better  off  juvenile-adults  m  the  County  Jail,  we 
find  them  not  a  whit  better  off  than  the 
other  prisoners  and  in  some  respects  even  worse  off:  1. 
The  tier  for  minors  is  still  too  close  to  those  of  the  adults, 
with  whom  they  can  easily  converse  and  whose  conversa- 
tion they  can  hear  without  difficulty.  2.  They  also  are 
assigned  two  to  the  same  cell. 

IV.     The  same  poor  classification  seen  in  the  adult 
section  is  true  among  the  juvenile-adults  as  well.     All  the 
youthful  prisoners  irrespective  of  the  cause  of  their  in- 
carceration, are  placed  on  the  same  tier. 
46 


V.     While  there   is   an  order  at  the 

f.-        ,/  County   Tail  store  to  the  effect  that  no 

Cigarettes  ■'    -' 

through  minor    can    buy    tobacco    or    cigarettes 

"Trusty"  there,  several  trustworthy  persons  testi- 

fied to  the  writer  that  minors  can  get  all 
the  cigarettes  and  tobacco  they  want  from  the  store 
through  the  agency  of  some  adult,  either  a  "trusty"  or  a 

S"^""^-  TABLE  XVI 

Religion  of  Prisoners  in  County  Jail,  1911. 

Religion —                                       Men  Boys  Women         * 

Baptist 485  67  64             2 

Congregationalist 22  2  2 

Episcopal 95  7  1             2 

Greek    Catholic 80  15  13 

Jewish 322  106  11              5 

Lutheran 568  81  2,2>              8 

Methodist 512  50  72>             8 

Presbyterian 128  24  9 

Other  Protestant 39  7  9              7 

Roman  Catholic 3,326  843  283            65 

Xo  religion  professed 57  6  7 

^Comparison  with  the   ICO  cases  investigated  by  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association. 

,     ,      .  VI.     In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  many 

Lack  of  .  , 

Gymnasium  social  workers  and  of  the  jailer  himself 

to  procure  a  gymnasium,  the  County 
Commissioners  refuse  to  provide  one.  This  is  a  lament- 
able deficiency  in  the  Jail  outfittings  since  it  habituates 
the  boys  to  idleness  and  physical  inactivity — for  these 
lads  especially,  the  worst  thing  in  the  world.  In  this  re- 
spect our  juvenile-adults  are  worse  off  than  the  adult 
prisoners,  because  the  adults  are  kept  out  of  their  cells 
a  number  of  hours  every  day  and  during  this  period 
they  are  made  to  exercise  as  much  as  possible.  The 
boys,  however,  have  no  such  advantage,  as  they  are  kept 
47 


in  school  while  the  adults  are  taking  their  exercise. 

-.     „  .     ,  VII.     There  is  a  small  library  in  the 

No   Supervised  r  n      , 

Library  County,  Jail,,    carefully   bestowed    in    a 

closet  where  the  earnest  seeker  may  oc- 
casionally light  upon  it.  But  there  is  no  one  to  take 
care  of  the  books  in  the  sense  of  recommending  special 
ones  to  the  boys,  reading  to  them,  or  otherwise  awaken- 
ing their  interest  in  books.  There  should  be  a  librarian 
— one  of  the  teachers  might  be  assigned  this  office — who 
should  talk  books  to  the  boys,  trying  to  ascertain  their 
interests  and  showing  them  how  they  may  follow  up  this 
interest  and  get  really  valuable,  practical  information 
from  books,  acting  as  censor,  too,  in  allowing  only  such 
literature  as  is  wholesome  in  tone. 

TABLE  XVII 
Time  Kept  in  County  Jail. 

Weeks— 

12  3  4  5  6  7  8  910121415  1618  2022  26 
Confidence    game 1 


Joy    riding 

Assault  and  battery 1 

Burglary 1315324    11 

Attempted  burglary 1 1  ..    1 

Arson 


Robbery 2.2.    .311    1    2    1  . .    1 

Petty    larceny 

Grand  larceny 1..    .    .1.1 1..    1....    ] 

Disorderly  conduct....   1   1 1 

Attempted  murder 1 

Murder 2 1    1.. 


Stealing 2  .   1   ....    1 

Rape  1.11.. 

Bastardy 

Tampering  U.  S.  mail 1 


Totals 26.534975   8   3   3..    3112 

48 


„         .       ,  VIII.     The  prisoners,  on  the  whole, 

Detention  in  ,  .,,,..,,, 

County  Jail  ^"^    especially    the    juvenile-adults,    are 

Too  Long  kept  altogether  too  long  in  the  County 

Jail,  as  Table  17  shows.  From  this 
table  we  see  that  the  duration  of  imprisonment  does  not 
depend  on  the  offense  the  prisoners  committed,  for  of 
the  22  juvenile-adult  burglars  detained  in  the  Jail,  1  was 
brought  to  trial  after  4  weeks;  3  had  to  stay  5  weeks; 
1,  6  weeks;  5,  7  weeks;  3,  8  weeks;  2,  9  Vvreeks;  4,  10 
weeks;  1,  12  weeks;  1,  14  weeks;  and  1,  22  weeks.  The 
same  lack  of  uniformity  is  noticeable  in  every  other  of- 
fense. After  long  and  painstaking  investigation,  it  was 
learned  that  this  anomaly  is  due  to  the  following  reasons : 

1.  It  depends  upon  whether  or  not  the  prisoner  has 
friends ;  if  his  friends  see  to  it  that  his  name  is  placed  on 
the  calendar,  he  is  brought  to  trial  with  little  delay. 

2.  Very  often  it  is  the  fault  of  the  lawyer.  As  a  rule, 
he  finds  that  he  can  fleece  his  client  more  by  keeping  him 
in  custody  for  a  longer  period. 

3.  There  is  a  deplorable  paucity  of  criminal  judges 
in  the  city.  A  greater  number  of  magistrates  would  ex- 
pedite the  bringing  to  trial  of  the  accused. 


TABLE  XVIII 
Health  of  County  Jail  Boys. 


_     ^ 

5    ^ 

^  :? 


^   ^ 


Bastardy 

Rape 3 

Assault  and  battery.     1 
Attempted  murder. .     1 

Murder 

Arson 2 

Robbery 9 

Burglary 11 

Petty  larceny 4 

Grand  larceny 4 

Disorderly  conduct.  .     4 

Stealing 

Tampering  U.  S.  M.     1 

Contrib.  to  delinq 

C.  J.  figures  of  dis- 
eased minors 


311     10    62 


8    27 


65 


Suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  the  County  Jail. — 

1.  Minors  should  not  under  any  circumstances  be 
kept  within  sight  or  earshot  of  the  adult  prisoners. 

2.  County  jails  should  harbor  only  those  who  await 
trial.    They  should  be  simply  detention  homes. 

3.  Those  whose  trial  is  pending  should  be  presumed 
innocent  until  proved  guilty.  They  are  therefore  en- 
titled to  decent  treatment  in  a  place  that  is  physically 
sanitary  and  morally  unobjectionable. 

50 


4.  There  should  be  complete  separation  of  the  differ- 
ent classes  of  prisoners. 

5.  All  jails  should  be  inspected  by  the  local  board  of 
health  officials  as  well  as  by  those  of  the  State  Board  of 
Charities. 

6.  Some  society  should  send  an  investigator  to  the 
County  Jail  to  learn  the  details  of  each  case.  This  per- 
son should  especially  look  out  for  the  interests  of  the 
juvenile-adult  offenders  unable  to  retain  a  lawyer. 
(Minnie  Jacobs  Berlin,  of  the  Bureau  of  Personal  Ser- 
vice, is  doing  this  kind  of  work  for  the  Jewish  prison- 
ers). It  would  be  expedient  that  this  investigator  have 
some  legal  knowledge,  so  as  to  be  able  to  be  helpful  to 
the  judge  in  suggesting  from  his  more  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  individual  cases  the  best  possible  means  com- 
patible with  the  law  for  reforming  the  offender. 

7.  "The  state  should  take  over  the  County  Jail : 

"a.  The  state  has  a  deep  interest  in  jail  administra- 
tion, for  the  jail  is  a  crime-breeder. 

"b.  State  supervision  would  secure  uniform  treatment 
of  prisoners. 

"c.  It  would  be  broad  enough  to  secure  the  character 
classification. 

"d.  It  would  promote  the  public  health  by  compelling 
scientific  adjustment  of  dietaries  and  the  adoption  of 
sanitary  measures  which  would  protect  and  improve  the 
health  of  the  prisoners. 

"e.  It  would  establish  a  higher  standard  of  jail  ad- 
ministration, based  upon  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
when  the  state  takes  away  the  liberty  of  a  citizen,  it  is 
under  obligation  to  make  him  better  morally  and  physi- 
cally, and  not  worse." — Warren  F.  Spalding,  in  Penal 
Reformatory  Institutions. 

51 


TABLE  XIX 
Bad  Habits. 


Drinks 7 

Smokes    cigarettes 26    21 

Smokes  cigars 

Smokes  pipe 13      3 

Chews  tobacco 

Poolroom 1 

Stays  out  late 

Gambles 


S      S 
m     CO 


03      O 


Smoke    cigarettes 21 

Smoke  cig.  and  pipe 3 

Poolroom 5 

Cocaine 1 

Could  acct.  for  no  bad  habit.  8 


Drink   only 7 

Drink  and  smoke  cigarettes. 26 
Drink  and  smoke  cigars....  2 

Drink  and  smoke  pipe 13 

Drink  and  poolroom 1 

„         .  By  far  the  greatest  number  of  juve- 

ggjj  nile-adult  offenders  in  the  County  Jail 

are  very  poor  boys,  who  are  there  be- 
cause they  cannot  secure  the  bail  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  judge.  It  is  this  poverty  of  theirs  which  forces 
the  boys  to  be  kept  in  idleness  and  in  many  cases  brings 
merely  unfortunate  boys  in  contact  with  the  most  crim- 
inal characters.  They  are  not  in  the  Jail  because  the  law 
had  already  pronounced  them  guilty,  and  therefore  they 
deserve  punishment  for  their  crime,  but  because  they  are 
poor  and  friendless  and  have  no  one  to  go  their  bail. 
"Excessive  bail  should  not  be  required"  is  the  dictum 
of  the  law.  But  it  is  left  to  the  individual  judge  to  de- 
52 


cide  what  is  excessive  and  what  is  not.  Worse  than  this, 
instead  of  at  least  giving  the  judge  a  chance  to  use  his 
discretion  and  decide  what  might  be  excessive  in  each 
case,  there  came  to  be  estabhshed  certain  regulations  fix- 
ing the  amount  of  bail  at  so  much  for  one  crime  and  so 
much  for  another — with  little  consideration  as  to  whether 
the  offender  is  fairly  well-to-do  or  very  poor. 

„,      .  By  being  held  to  trial  in  the  County 

More  Elasti-  ^   ./,  ^         ,  .  ,  ,  .         ^ 

city  in  Fixing  J^^^'  however,  the  prisoner  loses  his  po- 
Bail  sition,  he  may  be  corrupted  by  contact 

with  hardened  criminals,  and  his  family 
is  left  destitute.  There  should  be  more  elasticity  in  the 
fixing  of  bail.  If  there  seems  sufficient  reason  to  believe 
that  a  boy  or  man  will  appear  when  his  case  is  called  for 
trial,  he  should  be  permitted  to  have  a  near  relative  or 
his  employer  sign  his  bond.  Or,  if  the  magistrate  feels 
that  there  is  need  of  surveillance,  the  accused  may  be 
paroled  to  a  probation  officer,  who  thus  assumes  the  re- 
sponsibility of  bringing  him  up  for  the  trial.  In  short, 
no  delinquent,  or  very  few,  should  be  detained  in  the  Jail 
for  lack  of  bail. 

THE  GRAND  JURY. 
The  grand  jury  is  a  factor  in  keeping 

Grand  Jury  delinquent  boys  in  the  County  Jail  for 

Often  to  Blame  ^    .  /     .  , 

for  Keeping  ^  ^°"§'  ^'"^^ '  ^°^  ^"  many  cases  the  young 

Boys  in  Jail  prisoner   is  not  brought  up   for  indict- 

ment for  a  month  or  longer.  It  will, 
therefore,  be  worth  while  to  inquire  into  the  character, 
the  function,  and  the  need  for  this  important  body — the 
grand  jury. 

There  are  elaborate  provisions  governing  the  drawing, 
the  summoning,  and  the  session  of  a  grand  jury.     The 
S3 


disposition  of  the  defendant  taken  before  the  magistrate 
is  submitted  to  the  grand  jury,  who  also  receive  testi- 
mony or  witnesses  produced  before  them  by  the  prose- 
cution. When  all  the  evidence  before  them  is  such  as 
would  in  their  judgment  warrant,  if  uncontradicted  and 
unexplained,  the  conviction  of  the  defendant,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  grand  jury  to  find  an  indictment. 

To  the  mind  of  the  layman  this  pro- 
ran     jury  cedure     is     incomprehensible.      Indeed, 
Superfluous  ,  .  ,     . 

the   entire  grand   jury   system   appears 

superfluous.  As  it  can  hear  only  one  side,  that  of  the 
prosecution,  what  purpose  can  it  subserve  that  is  not 
subserved  by  the  duties  of  the  municipal  judge,  who  has 
heard  both  sides.  Besides,  why  wait  with  an  indictment 
so  long?  Why  not  allow  the  municipal  judge,  who  had 
the  defendant  before  him  and  allowed  him  to  produce 
witnesses  to  his  side — why  not  let  him  state  whether  the 
accused  should  be  indicted  or  not?  The  judge  has  a  bet- 
ter opportunity  of  learning  the  facts  of  the  case  than  the 
secret  body  governed  by  a  magistrate  and  the  state's  at- 
torney's office.  In  some  cases  even  the  preliminary  hear- 
ing is  done  away  with  and  the  case  is  brought  directly 
before  the  grand  jury.  This  practice  is  even  worse  than 
where  the  delinquent  has  to  undergo  two  kinds  of  juris- 
diction. For  under  the  grand  jury  system,  whose  pro- 
ceedings are  secret,  many  great  wrongs  can  be  done. 
The  proceedings  are  conducted  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  defendant  and  without  having  representation  for 
defense.  What  fearful  possibilities  for  abuse  of  power, 
of  cruel  injustice!  Groundless  charges  brought  mali- 
ciously and  supported  by  false  testimony  at  a  secret  hear- 
ing, can  easily  lead  a  man  to  ruin — for  the  final  indict- 
54 


ment  may  be  the  first  intimation  which  will  reach  the  in- 
nocent victim  of  a  wretched  plot. 

There  are,  notwithstanding,  times  and 
Condemned   by  i  ,i  ,    • 

„      ,       '     occasions  where  the  grand  jury  serves 
the   Bench  ^   ,  ^ ,  }         . 

a  useful  purpose — as  when  there  is  need 

to  attack  a  public  evil,  or  when  it  is  engaged  upon  inves- 
tigations which  must  be  conducted  secretly  in  order  to 
be  effective.  But  for  a  body  of  legally  untrained  men 
to  review  the  work  of  a  municipal  judge  or  to  investi- 
gate first  instances  of  criminal  cases  is  preposterous. 
The  grand  jury  system  has  already  been  abolished  in 
several  states — as  in  Minnesota.  Judge  Gemmill,  in  an 
address  before  the  American  Institute  of  Criminal  Law 
and  Criminology  at  its  last  meeting  in  Milwaukee,  strong- 
ly urged  the  abolition  of  the  grand  jury. 

RECOMMENDATIONS    FOR    THE    SCIENTIFIC 
TREATMENT  OF  JUVENILE-ADULT 
OFFENDERS. 
The  present  report  in  all  its  points  would  thus  far  have 
shown  that  the  main  causes  contributing  to  the  delin- 
quency of   the  boys   were:     Poverty,   bad  homes,   bad 
company,   and  sordid  neighborhoods.     Add  to  this  the 
influence  of  bad  heredity  and  lack  of  moral  training,  and 
we  have  a  picture  of  the  boys'  helplessness  in  the  strug- 
gle against  temptation  and  vice.     From  the  beginning  it 
is  clear  that  they  have  not  a  chance  in  the  world  to  with- 
stand  the  overwhelming    odds    against 
juvenile  them.     The  juvenile-adult  offender  is  no 

Offender  more  to  be  blamed  for  his  crime  than  is 

Victim  of  the  mentally  defective  boy  for  his  weak- 

Circumstances       ness.     Both  are  the  victims  of  circum- 
stances over  which  they  have  no  control. 
55 


It  would  seem  to  be  needless  to  argue  that  no  rational 
being  would  care  to  become  a  public  nuisance,  a  social  out- 
cast if  he  could  help  it.  There  is  therefore  no  place  for 
harsh,  blindfold  justice  in  dealing  with  juvenile  delin- 
quents; rather  there  is  a  call  for  pity  and  mercy.  We 
should  treat  these  lads  as  all  other  diseased  persons  are 
treated — they  must  be  cured  rather  than  punished.* 

The  Old  ^^  present  our  courts  are  still  imbued 

System  with  the  old  barbaric  notion  that  a  crim- 

inal, even  a  juvenile,  has  outraged  the 
laws  of  society  and  therefore  should  have  vengeance 
visited  on  him.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  judges 
would  "mete  out  punishment  in  proportion  to  the  crime 
committed."  But  those  days  when  revenge  was  the  ideal 
of  justice  are  long  past.  Today  another  and  a  nobler 
note  should  take  the  place  of  this  jarring  discord.  A 
new  procedure  and  a  new  tribunal  should  supersede  the 
old  blindfold  justice,  where  not  the  crime  but  the  crim- 
inal should  be  the  all-important  consideration,  where  not 
the  punishment  but  the  reform  of  the  offender  should  be 
emphasized. 

-T     ,  ,  In  the  first  place,  greater  care  should 

Need  for  a  ,         ,  .    ,      .  ., 

Psychopathic  '^^  taken  of  the  juvemle-adult  transgres- 
Department  sor  than  has  been  taken  thus  far.   These 

delinquents  should  not  be  placed  in  cells 
with  adult  criminals  in  the  police  stations,  and  there 
should  be  a  separate  court  for  the  trial  of  these  offenders. 
The  judge  presiding  over  this  court  should  not  only  be  a 


*Recent  researches  of  Italian  and  French  criminologists  hare 
proved  beyond  any  doubt  that  the  moral  deficiency  of  our  crimi- 
nals is  closely  akin  to  mental  deficiency.  Both  have  been  found 
to  show  the  same  kinds  and  number  of  stigmata. 


dertaken  the  present  study  of  representatives  of  this 
class  of  offenders.  No  selection  was  made.  Every  boy 
held  to  the  Grand  Jury  who  was  brought  into  the  County 
Jail  was  in  turn  made  the  subject  of  this  study.  In  addi- 
tion, the  purpose  is  to  obtain,  if  possible,  light  on  the 
following  questions : 

1.  What  were  the  home  conditions  of  these  delin- 
quents ? 

2.  What  was  their  schooling,  and  did  it  operate  for 
or  against  delinquency? 

3.  What  were  their  occupations,  and  did  the  voca- 
tional problem  figure  in  their  delinquency? 

4.  From  a  study  of  their  nationality,  can  one  discover 
a  national  or  a  racial  predisposition  for  certain  crimes? 

5.  Was  religion  a  factor  in  preventing  their  delin- 
quency ? 

6.  Are  the  measures  taken  by  society  for  combating 
juvenile  delinquency  really  preventive? 

7.  In  how  far  did  the  judges  and  the  prosecuting  at- 
torneys show  leniency  toward  first  offenders? 

8.  Did  these  youths  get  a  "square  deal"  in  the  police 
station,  in  the  County  Jail,  and  with  the  judges? 

9.  What  influence  did  the  jail  have  upon  them? 

10.  What  were  the  main  contributing  causes  to  their 
delinquency  ? 

100  Typical  ^  ,  ,      .         ,.  ,  , 

Juvenile-  ^'■^  order  to  obtain  reliable  answers  to 

Adult  these   questions,   it   was   decided   to   ask 

Delinquents  each  lad  the  following  list : 

7 


COUNTY  JAIL  CASE 

Date 

Name , Cell   Number 

Address Age Birthplace 

Nationality  and  Name  of  Mother Father 

Present    Charge    Pending 

Previous  Arrests What  Charges 

Imprisonment  at  any  time What  Charges 

Have  you  been  Indicted  on  Present  Charge  Pending 

School  Grade Age  Leaving  School 

Occupation  During  School  Life,  if  any 

Employment  After  Leaving  School 

Were  You  Employed  at  Time  of  Arrest At  What 

If  Not  Employed,  for  How  Long  a  Period 

What  Kind  of  Work  Would  You  Have  Liked 

How  Much  Spending  Money  Did  You  Receive 

What  were  your  amusements 

Theatres Pool  Rooms Boy  Gangs 

Organized  Boy  Clubs Church  Societies 

What  do  you  like  to  read Do  you  Drink 

Do  j'ou  Smoke How  Much. .  .  .Is  your  Mother  employed 

Name  of  your  Attorney,  if  any 

Is  your  Picture  in  the  Identification  Bureau Bond 

Name  and  Address  of  Person  Prosecuting 

Date Held  to  Grand  Jury  by  Judge 

Name  of  Officer  making  investigation 

Remarks  Over. 

Sources   of  These  questions  were  put  by  one  offi- 

Information  cer  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associa- 

tion and  another  officer  was  sent  to  the 
homes  of  the  offenders  to  verify  the  answers,  and  also 
to  investigate  home  conditions.  To  make  up  for  some 
cases  in  which  answers  could  not  be  obtained,  a  few  more 
were  later  added,  so  that  there  might  be  one  hundred 
fully  answered  cases.  In  some  instances  there  are,  there- 
fore, more  than  one  hundred  answers.  After  repeated 
visits  to  police  stations  and  County  Jail,  after  interviews 


specialist  in  the  handling  of  juvenile  cases,  but  he  should 
have  at  his  command  a  well  organized  psychopathic 
department  which  should  give  every  defendant  a  thor- 
ough examination,  so  that  the  magistrate  may  at  once 
know  in  how  far  the  accused  should  be  held  responsible 
for  his  deed.  In  addition,  the  judge  should  be  assisted 
by  a  scientific  penologist  who  should  recommend  the 
treatment  most  effective  toward  bringing  about  the  re- 
form of  the  offender. 

TABLE  XX 
Age  of  Offenders. 

15  years 2  19  years 18 

16  years 5  20  years 17 

17  years 29  21  years S 

18  years 23  22  years 2 

Jail   Records. 

Juvenile  Court  record 15      Pontiac   Reformatory *3 

Arrested  once  before 19      St.    Charles *3 

Arrested  twice  before 8      Parental *1 

Arrested  3  times  before...     8      Not  employed 53 

Never  arrested  before 28      Employed  when  arrested.  . .  59 

John  Worthy  School *14 

*Included  in  the  other  counts. 

_□,     J  r..  ,        Under  the  administration  of  a  special 

Offender   a   Sick    .     ,         ,  .„   ,  ,      ,      r 

Man  Who  Must  i^^S^  ^"^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^  ^^"^^  method  of 
Be  Restored  attempted  reform.     This  magistrate  will 

to  Moral  send  the  moral  defective — in  like  manner 

Health  ^g  ^^  vvould  send  a  sick  man  to  a  hos- 

pital to  cure  him  of  physical  disease — to  a  place  where 
he  may  be  restored  to  moral  health  and  whence  he  may 
return,  a  useful  and  law-abiding  citizen.  The  commit- 
ment will  be  under  an  indeterminate  sentence.  The 
prisoner's  stay  in  the  new  reformatory  will  depend  upon 
his  ability  to  understand  and  act  upon  the  laws  of  cause 
57 


and  effect  and  the  sooner  he  learns  to  look  to  future  con- 
sequences and  to  sacrifice  momentary  pleasures  for  per- 
manent good,  the  sooner  will  he  be  adjudged  fit  to  return 
to  free  social  activity  and  intercourse  with  his  fellow- 
men. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  prison  should 
B  H  't  1  ""^^^ly  bs  ^  hospital  for  the  morally  de- 
fer Morally  fective.  Instead  of  relieving  the  delin- 
Defective  quent  of  all  responsibility,  he  should  be 
made  to  work  for  a  living  in  prison, 
under  seemingly  harder  conditions  than  in  the  outside 
world.  Instead  of  depriving  him  of  the  opportunity  of 
exerting  his  will-power  by  deciding  the  minutest  detail 
for  him,  he  should  be  given  some  chance  to  choose  and 
decide  things  for  himself.  Instead  of  depriving  him  of 
all  ambition,  he  should  be  inspired  with  the  knowledge 
that  his  freedom  is  in  his  own  hands  to  be  attained  when 
he  shows  himself  worthy  of  it.  Second,  he  should  have 
some  secondary  goal  held  out  to  him — to  learn  a  trade 
or  to  save  up  money  earned  by  his  work,  or  to  develop 
some  special  capability  he  possesses. 

These  results  may  be  achieved  when 
George  Junior  ^^^  juvenile-adult  is  sent  to  an  institu- 
Repubhc  and  .      •"  .     ,       ,  •      •   i 

Borstal  System  ^^^^  where  some  of  the  best  prmciples 
Point  the  Way  of  the  George  Junior  Republic  are  in 
practice.  To  instil  a  desire  for  improve- 
m.ent,  the  Borstal  English  system  should  be  incorporated. 
With  the  indeterminate  sentence  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  Borstal  system  on  the  other,  there  is  enough  incentive 
for  the  worst  of  offenders  to  be  induced  to  work  in 
harmony  with  the  authorities  for  a  thorough  reform  in 
behavior,  and  what  is  more — in  character. 
58 


Present   Paper  In  order  to  arrive  at  the  true  causes 

an  Attempt  to      Qf   juvenile   delinquency,    it    would    be 

„  ^^,       '    ',     ,       necessary  to  make  an  intensive  study  of 
Study   Method  /,..,,  ...        ^    \, 

in  Juvenile  rnany    individual    cases    similar    to    the 

Delinquency  method  now  being  pursued  in  the  new 

movement  of  child-study.  The  history, 
home  environment  and  neighborhood  conditions  of  these 
cases  should  be  thoroughly  investigated  before  trust- 
worthy conclusions  could  be  reached  as  to  the  actual 
causes  of  juvenile  and  juvenile-adult  criminality. 

The  Juvenile  Protective  Association,  in  collecting  and 
correlating  the  data  in  these  one  hundred  County  Jail 
cases  has  made  the  beginning  of  an  intensive  study  of 
this  kind. 


59 


PUBLICATIONS 

OF  THE 

JUVENILE  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 
OF  Chicago. 

A  Manual  of  Juvenile  Laws 1908 

Harry  E.  Smoot 

Five  and  Ten-Cent  Theatres 1909  and  1911 

Louise  de  Koven  Bow^en 

Juvenile  Protective  Leagues 1910 

Allan  Hoben 

A  Study  in  Adult  Delinquency 1911 

Mary  B.   Swain 

First  Lessons  in  Gambling 1911 

W.  L.  Chenery 

The  Department  Store  Girl 1911 

Louise  de  Koven  Bowen 

Revised  Edition   of   Manual 1911 

A  Study  of  Public  Dance  Halls 1911  and  1912 

Louise  de  Koven  Bowen 

Some  Legislative  Needs  in  Illinois 1912 

Louise  de  Koven  Bowen 

The  Girl  Employed  in  Hotels  and  Restaurants 1912 

Louise  de  Koven  Bowen 
A  Summary  of  Work 1912 

Gertrude  Howe  Britton 

A  Synopsis  of  Work 1912 

Louise  de  Koven  Bowen 

On  the  Trail  of  the  Juvenile-Adult  Oflfender 1912 

A.  P.  Drucker 

Care  of  the  Illegitimate  Children  in  Chicago 1912 

Howard  Moore 
Annual  Reports 

60 


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